Fans of Laverne Cox condemn the dubbing of male voices in the Italian version of “Promising Young Woman”

Fans of Laverne Cox and members of the LGBTQI+ community have spoken out against the use of a male actor’s dubbing in the Italian version of Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman.

In a clip released to promote the film, titled Una Donna Promettente in Italy, fans quickly realized that Cox’s character Gail was voiced by a man. The clip for Una Donna Promettente was posted by Universal Pictures Italy on May 6, according to The Guardian.

In the now restricted video of the Italian version of the film, Cox’s character speaks to protagonist Cassie, played by Carey Mulligan. It turns out that the voice of the “Orange Is the New Black” star was replaced by that of actor Roberto Pedicini in the Italian version.

After the clip was published, Italian viewers immediately expressed their outrage on social media.

“I was so excited for my Italian friends to see ‘Promising Young Woman’ in the cinema… until I heard one of the dubbed trailers. I wrote about the original transphobic dubbing of the film and how it highlights a larger representation issue (sic),” wrote one user.

Another expressed frustration with the casting and sadness for Cox and Fennell.

“A cis man was chosen to dub Laverne Cox in Italian. This can’t go on. I’m sick of it. There has to be something we can do.” #promisingyoungwoman @Lavernecox@emeraldfennell I’m so sorry! (sic)’

One user further pointed out that this is not the first time Cox has been misgendered and the dubbing industry has failed him.

“In the Italian dub of ‘Prospecting Young Woman,’ Laverne Cox is apparently dubbed by a man. The same was done with her role in ‘Orange is the New Black.’ This is so transphobic it’s actually laughable,” they tweeted.

In the Italian version of “Orange Is The New Black,” Cox’s character Sophia Burset was voiced by male voice actor Andrea Lavagnino, who previously voiced her characters in the television series “The Mindy Project” and the drama “Doubt.”

According to The Guardian, a cis man was also cast for Cox’s role in “Promising Young Woman” in Germany and Spain.

A spokesperson for Universal Pictures International told the publication: “We are deeply grateful to Laverne and the transgender community for opening our eyes to a bias that neither we nor many others in our industry had recognized. While this mistake was not malicious, we are working diligently to correct it.”

“We have begun re-dubbing Ms. Cox’s voice with female actresses in our international territories and are staggering release dates to ensure the correct version is available.”

Cox has not yet commented on the controversy.

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